Terrion Arnold reveals Nick Saban was more personable in 2023
Terrion Arnold knew there was something different about Nick Saban this year, prior to the Alabama coach’s retirement.
Saban surprised everyone with the announcement earlier this week. Former Washington coach Kalen DeBoer will take over.
But Arnold saw Saban open up and be more personable this fall. But it didn’t necessarily mean he knew the coach would step away.
“He was more personable this year,” Arnold said on Next Round Live. “I’ll share a story like as far as having team meetings with him. He said ‘the team is very special to me …’ He just enjoyed all the little things versus kind of like last year and even even with us, like our relationship and everything like that, Coach Saban and I, we’ve always been pretty tight … That’s a testament to him and knowing that he retired and it’s just a testament to just knowing like the bond and the relationship that was there.
“And I feel like even this year looking at the way life he handled the media as far as the cameras all the time with like, let all naysayers know don’t like me just being. Him being supportive, Miss Terry, different things like that. Like I don’t it’s a testament to like knowing that he was gonna retire but just him carrying it and like connecting the dots looking backwards, that’s not normal for him doing that.”
Top 10
- 1Breaking
Deion Sanders violations
Coach Prime caught by NCAA
- 2
Pat Coogan
Notre Dame center entering Transfer Portal
- 3New
Top 25 QBs in CFB
Looking ahead to 2025 season
- 4
2025 Heisman Odds
The early front-runners are in
- 5Trending
Bill Belichick signs
UNC coach inks deal
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
Arnold won’t be around for the start of the DeBoer era in Tuscaloosa. He declared for the 2024 NFL Draft.
However, he’ll always have fond memories of Saban and his time at Alabama.
“I mean, just one off the top of my head,” Arnold said recounting a story. “My freshman year, actually getting to play Tennessee, he comes in, he says: ‘You know, guys we’re going to take control of it. And one thing about it, when people come in, you can’t let people take over your territory or piss on your grass.’”
Arnold was confused at first: “I’m like, what does that have anything to do with us?”
However, as always, Saban would tie that line into a great lesson.
Saban was always stoic, serious and no-nonsense when it came to his coaching career. Although over the last couple of years, as Arnold described, he lightened up.
Still, it didn’t affect what he did on the sidelines. Alabama won the SEC this season and came within a play or two of the national championship game.